University Group Dynamics Reflection Report: CAS102 Course

This report reflects on group dynamics within a project, examining the interplay between a task group and a client group formed to address alcohol and other drug (AOD) issues. The author, a student, discusses communication patterns, highlighting initial challenges stemming from diverse cultural backgrounds and the subsequent efforts to foster cultural sensitivity. The report explores conflict management, the establishment of a social work agency named 'Hope,' and the application of a remedial model to address members' diverse problems, primarily related to drug and alcohol addiction. The analysis emphasizes the role of communication in understanding and addressing the challenges faced by group members, the importance of leadership, and the implementation of counseling and rehabilitation strategies to support recovery and promote healthy living. The author reflects on their experience as both a facilitator and a member, underscoring the significance of positive communication and leadership in achieving group goals.

Running head: GROUP WORK DYNAMICS
Group Work Dynamics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1GROUP WORK DYNAMICS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
1. Group work dynamics..............................................................................................................2
2. Communication........................................................................................................................2
3. Conflict and diversity...............................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

2GROUP WORK DYNAMICS
Introduction
In this reflective assignment, I will be discussing the two groups that were formed for
undertaking a project. In this reflection, I will talk about both the project group, which is the
actual group formed for the project and the client group – the group created within the project. I
will discuss the group dynamics and the leadership qualities of both the groups. I will also
highlight my own experience as both a facilitator and a member of the group.
1. Group work dynamics
The group work dynamics refer to the influence of the roles and responsibilities carried
out by the members on the group (Forsyth, 2018). The group dynamics depends on the kind of
communication that takes place within the group, the management of conflicts and leadership
amongst others. For our project, we formed two groups with the same members – the task group
and the treatment group. The task group was the project group whereas the treatment group was
the client group that comprised members having AOD issues (Agazarian, 2018).
2. Communication
At first, I will discuss the communication process of the project group or the task group.
We formed the task group with five members including Cindy, Isha, Justinah, Yakshana and I.
the communication within the group was quite smooth and effective although there were some
initial issues. Group communication involves the fundamental processes involved in any kind of
communication such as sending and receiving messages, seeing, hearing, touching and smelling.
As Johnson and Johnson (2017) explain, group communication process involves noise, feedback

3GROUP WORK DYNAMICS
and channels. Noise refers to the disturbances that hamper the sending and receiving of messages
whereas feedback means the response from the receiver to the sender. Channels are the medium
through which the message is being sent. In our project group, all these elements were present.
The noise that disturbed our group communication the most was the frame of reference of the
receivers (Klug & Bagrow, 2016). The frame of reference refers to the different cultural
backgrounds from where the members belong. Owing to the noise, there were conflicts within
our group. Our group comprises of people from diverse backgrounds such as Asia, Africa and so
on. Owing to this, we had issues initially interacting with each other (Gupta, 2017).
The communication in the client group was far less than it was in the project group. I
believe that there should have been more communication in the client group. After Yakshana
introduced everyone during the group session, I felt there should have been an elaborated session
for everyone to explain the way each feels (Levi, 2015). We were five members in the group and
hence, our communication pattern must have followed the quad communication patter where
there was supposed to be 12 interactions. This would mean that each member would have
interacted with the other. Not all the members found the opportunity to interact with each other
(Nollet et al., 2017).
3. Conflict and diversity
In order to develop a better communication, each member decided to improve her and his
cultural sensitivity by exploring own cultural identity. After the initial hiccups, it was smoother
for us to come together and form the group. We then formed the group with the first task of
establishing the purpose of the group. The main purpose of was to find and help people who are
suffering from alcohol and other drugs (AOD) related mental health issues. The group created a

4GROUP WORK DYNAMICS
social work agency named Hope. The recruitment of members was already done and so we
proceeded to orienting the members of the group. I explained the purpose of the group to the
members and discussed the procedures as well. The whole purpose behind the group on conflict
and diversity was to get the group members to open about the unique issues that each and every
one of them was faced with individually, because of the fact that their problems were so diverse
in nature. As a result the remedial model of group behavior and communication was adopted
for this purpose. It was hoped that by getting the group members to talk about the varied
problems that they were faced with, a better understanding could be arrived at of such problems
so that solutions may be developed in order to address the same. The primary purpose of the
communication was to gain an understanding of the issues that the group members were facing
both as a collective unit as well as individually so that the matter could be resolved for them
immediately. It was seen as the group members opened up one by one that the problems were
mostly related to drug and alcohol abuse and addiction, and that while some of the group
members had got addicted because of bad company, there were others who were addicted
because they have been taking the drugs in order to overcome problems such as depression. The
case of the latter was something that was far more severe than the case of the former but all in all
it was discovered through such communication that the drugs and alcohol addiction that the
group members were suffering from was something that they were taking recourse to as a form
of escapism, in order to run away from the depression and the despair that was so characteristic
of their daily lives (Pinto et al., 2016). The social work agency known as Hope that was created
by the group aimed at counseling each and every one of the group members into accepting the
dire situation that they were faced with. It was imperative for the group members to accept the
fact that the drug and alcohol abuse was a problem and that it was an issue that was keeping the

5GROUP WORK DYNAMICS
group members from leading constructive lives regardless of the diverse economic, social and
cultural backgrounds that they belonged to. Through the one on one communication that was
carried out with each and every one of the group members, the group members were counseled
into accepting their situation and coming up with suggestions about the sort of lifestyle that they
need to adopt an the rehabilitation measures that need to be undertaken in order for them to
overcome their addiction and resume healthy living once again (Smeekes & Verkuyten, 2015).
Conclusion
Thus, leadership and positive communication were both quite evident in the discussions
that were carried out with both the groups.

6GROUP WORK DYNAMICS
References
Agazarian, Y. M. (2018). The visible and invisible group. Routledge.
Forsyth, D. R. (2018). Group dynamics. Cengage Learning
Gupta, M. (2017). Consensus building process in group decision making—An adaptive
procedure based on group dynamics. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 26(4), 1923-
1933.
Klug, M., & Bagrow, J. P. (2016). Understanding the group dynamics and success of
teams. Royal Society open science, 3(4), 160007.
Levi, D. (2015). Group dynamics for teams. Sage Publications
Nollet, J., Beaulieu, M., & Fabbe-Costes, N. (2017). The impact of performance measurement on
purchasing group dynamics: The Canadian experience. Journal of Purchasing and Supply
Management, 23(1), 17-27.
Pinto, I. R., Marques, J. M., & Paez, D. (2016). National identification as a function of perceived
social control: A subjective group dynamics analysis. Group Processes & Intergroup
Relations, 19(2), 236-256
Smeekes, A., & Verkuyten, M. (2015). The presence of the past: Identity continuity and group
dynamics. European Review of Social Psychology, 26(1), 162-202.